Snapshots
by MelGayPet
Summary: Snapshots of a (possible) future. A collection of loosely connected one-shots that I may or may not turn into actual fics one day.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Yes, I know, I left _Family_ in a cliffhanger-y place, and what's worse, it'll probably be a little while before I update again (off to visit family for a few weeks), but this tiny scene kept rolling through my head and it wouldn't go away, so here it is. Enjoy!

* * *

Pilar Vega curled a hand tightly around her seat belt and braced her feet hard against the floor as the car rocked sharply from side to side. "Is that supposed to happen?" she asked.

Sierra Rose Fish replied with a careless, one-shouldered shrug and a hint of a smirk, moving deft fingers over the interface on the console. Wheels fully retracted, the car leveled itself and, slowly, began to rise. Glancing out the passenger side window, Pilar noticed the driver of the car in the adjacent lane gaping at them in shock. She clenched her own jaw to keep from doing the same. The man's tilted backwards as he followed their ascent. Before looking away, she was able to follow it as well, reflected in his mirrored sunglasses.

The car shuddered, gravity not wanting to loosen its grip too easily.

"You're not, like, pursuing anyone." Pilar pointed out. "Won't you get in trouble?"

Stupid question. When had _won't you get in trouble_ ever done anything but encourage Sierra, whether it was in shearing off her trusting three year-old brother's mop of curls or tinkering with her father's custom-built laptop to "make it work better" or sneaking out after curfew to crash a frat party at LU?

Sure enough, Sierra grinned at her, bright blue eyes dancing underneath the brim of that stupid cap. "Maybe. It depends on what kind of mood Sgt. Sato is in today. But when else are you going to get a chance to do this? C'mon, Pili, it'll be so _cool_!" With a final swipe of her thumb across the interface, the siren began to blare.

 _It'll be cool_ was the eternal answer to _won't you get in trouble.  
_

"Forget following in your dad's footsteps, _this_ is the reason you joined the force, isn't it?" Pilar accused, raising her voice to be heard. 24

"Half the fun," Sierra shouted back cheerfully. The light bar had activated with the siren, and her face was illuminated with whirling flashes of blue and red. It reminded Pilar of the fireworks displays that were held in Angel Square every fourth of July and New Year's Eve, though Sierra's expression during those had usually been more dazzled and less…fervid.

The flash of memory disappeared in the next instant as Sierra hit the gas and the car shot forward into open air. She whooped with glee and Pilar's stomach plummeted straight down to the clogged street abandoned beneath them.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** That little one-shot was just begging for a conclusion...

* * *

Sergeant Ruriko Sato, Llanview Police Department, veteran officer of twenty-five years, stood against the wall of the briefing room, sipping her coffee and looking around with a proprietary eye. A steady stream of officers in dark blue uniforms wandered in. Some milled about, pouring coffee, chatting amiably, others slumped into stiff plastic chairs, yawning sleepily. Sato's sharp eye missed none of them. As the clock ticked over to 7:00 am, she stepped briskly to the front of the room, tablet in hand. The room didn't do anything so dramatic as fall silent, but the hum of activity lowered in volume and those still standing either sat down or ranged themselves along the walls, attention turning to Sato.

"Good morning," she said, offering the room a brief, tight-lipped smile. In the back, she spotted an officer slip in the door to take an empty seat in the back row of chairs, long blonde ponytail swinging in her haste. "Glad to see everyone made it this morning. Another day, another set of duty assignments."

The next ten minutes were spent in the everyday business of handing out duty assignments, discussing the latest alerts, and fielding requests for shift changes.

"…No dice, Torres. Everyone has to do their time on overnights, and you've gotten out of it the last two times your name was up in the rotation. Suck it up." Torres, a doughy man in his late thirties who hadn't made corporal despite fifteen years on the job, stopped arguing at her denial, though his sulky expression would have done a four-year-old proud. Sato made a mental note of that reaction, even as she set her tablet aside. "We're going to try something new today," she announced, forestalling those who took this as the cue the morning briefing was over. "Every morning we're going to give one of our probationary officers the opportunity to show how well they've been learning – and how well their TO's have been teaching them."

A surprised stir moved throughout the room, centered, naturally enough, on the group of probies clustered in the back row, faces showing varying degrees of alarm and interest. Sato let her gaze fall on each one in turn, before stopping on the officer who had slipped in at the last second. "Officer Fish. You're up."

Sierra Fish unfolded herself from her chair and, at the sergeant's gesture, moved unhesitatingly to the front of the room. She straightened her cap, then turned to face the assembled cops, hands folded behind her back. She looked to Sato expectantly.

"Officer Fish, please explain when it is appropriate to engage your cruiser's flight capability."

The young officer blanched, staring wide-eyed at Sato. Sato returned the look, keeping her own face carefully expressionless. "Do you need me to repeat the question?" she inquired flatly, ignoring the faint titters from around the room.

The young woman recovered herself somewhat. "No, Sergeant. Um. When pursuing a suspect. When responding to an emergency, or to coordinate with officers on the ground doing crowd control. Or – or during an official demonstration, like a parade," she finished, somewhat awkwardly. Two spots of colors burned high on her cheekbones.

Sato waited a long moment before nodding. "Very good. You obviously have a good understanding of proper procedure." She turned back to the room full of cop faces, some bored, some curious. "Everybody give Officer Fish a hand."

She waited for the mostly-sarcastic applause to die away, then said, "All right, we're done here. Get to work, all of you. Be careful out there." She allowed herself a small smile as most of the room chorused the last sentence along with her. "Stay back a minute, Fish," she added in an undertone before the young woman had a chance to flee with the rest of them.

Once the briefing room door closed behind the last cop, the sergeant rounded on the probationary officer. "Do you have anything to add, Officer?" she asked in an acid tone.

"I'm sorry, Sergeant." Fish said immediately. "It will never happen again."

Sato eyed her appraisingly for several long moments, watching the young woman shift uncomfortably from one foot to another. She was reluctantly impressed that Fish hadn't bothered with denials, or asked how Sato had known about the morning's unauthorized flight. An idea began to form.

"Do you think regulations are _suggestions,_ Officer?"

"No, sir."

"Do you think you are somehow exempt from following them?"

"No, sir."

"Do you think being the lieutenant's daughter means you can do whatever you want and not be tossed out of here on your ass?"

Fish jerked her chin up at that, flushing beet red. "No, sir," she bit out.

 _Hit a sore spot, did I?_ "Do you understand that a police officer who is cavalier with the rules is a danger to herself, her fellow officers, and the community she is sworn to protect?"

The outrage faded from Fish's expression at that, replaced with contrition. Her shoulders slumped and her voice was barely audible as she said, "yes, sir."

Sato studied her carefully and came to a decision. "Well, I'm going to make sure of that, Officer Fish. Your probationary period will be extended another three months."

Fish stiffened in shock. "S-Sergeant," she stammered. "I don't think that's nec-"

Sato took a swift step towards her, closing the distance between them, and causing her protest to dry up. "You are on very thin ice, Officer," she said in a low, menacing tone, each word icily enunciated. "Do you really want to be jumping up and down?" She paused to let that sink in before continuing, "I'm also assigning you to another TO."

Fish blinked, clearly thrown off-guard. "Officer Teheri –" she began, more carefully.

"Has obviously failed to impress upon you the importance of following proper protocol. However, I'm confident that your new training officer will do better."

Sato leaned in sharply, glowering. Fish swallowed audibly, and the sergeant silently congratulated herself. At this close proximity, the six-inch difference in height between them was noticeable, yet obviously her air of authority wasn't at all lessened. "Make no mistake, Officer Fish. You step one toe out of line and I'll punt you out of this department so fast your head will spin. Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then get out to the bullpen. You won't be doing anything but filing reports, answering phones, and making coffee until I say otherwise."

"Yes, sir." Clearly both dejected at that news and relieved to be dismissed, Fish turned quickly and walked away. Sato picked up her tablet, shaking her head ruefully at herself. She didn't know when she'd find the time, but God knew, she owed it to Oliver to at least try to turn his reckless idiot of a kid into a decent cop.

"Sergeant?"

She looked up to see that Fish had paused in the doorway, looking back with some trepidation. Sato raised one eyebrow.

"Um, who _is_ my new TO?"

For the first time, Sato allowed a full, wide smile to stretch across her face, and was gratified to see that it visibly unnerved the young woman. "Isn't it obvious, Officer? I am."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** So, um, this is maybe turning into a story after all? I don't even know anymore. Leave a review if you like it (or even if you don't!).

* * *

"My life is ruined," Sierra Rose moaned for the fifth time.

Liam McBain rolled his eyes and held up two fingers. Jim, the bartender, was at the other end of the bar mixing complicated cocktails for a group of college girls, but he caught the gesture and nodded. Liam patted Sierra on the back and reached for the bowl of pretzels with his other hand.

"It'll be fine, See."

She lifted her head from her folded arms and glared at him blearily. "'Fine?' How is being held back and having Sato up my ass for three months any possible definition of _fine?_ " She broke off when Jim set two open bottles of beer down in front of them, snagging the empties away with practiced ease. She smiled at him brilliantly. "Oooh, beer! Jim, you're like magic."

Jim was on the north side of forty and had two ex-wives and three kids, making the twinge of jealousy in Liam's chest all the more ridiculous. He sucked down a mouthful of beer to drown it.

"I mean, you could've been fired," he said. "Seriously, See, taking your car for an unauthorized flight? You gotta admit that's pretty stupid."

Sierra had transferred the smile to her beer bottle as Jim moved away, but now it fell back into a frown. He winced internally.

"It wasn't such a big deal. Teheri wouldn't have cared."

In Liam's opinion, Officer Teheri didn't bother to rein in Sierra much because her father was the lieutenant. He kept silent about that as well, knowing how exactly how that statement would be received. He understood the weight of being a cop legacy. His own father, John McBain, had been gone for twenty years and was still sometimes whispered about by the long-timers around the station. He'd received his share of sidelong, appraising looks. He shrugged his shoulders, as if trying to dislodge that weight.

Sierra had kept on. "…and you should've seen the way he was glaring at me today. Sato must have chewed him out, too."

"He'll get over it. Soon you'll be Sato's problem, not his."

"Thanks a lot!" She scowled at him, then snorted at his wide grin. "You're supposed to be making me feel _better._ "

"That's what the beer's for," he told her, and was rewarded with a laugh.

"Hey!" She snatched the pretzel bowl away. "You ate 'em all!"

"Snooze, lose."

"Joe!" she called, waving wildly, forgetting the beer bottle still clutched in her hand. Declan ducked out of the way. "We need more pretzels!"

Joe brought more pretzels, and then more beers, and the conversation moved on to other subjects.

"Hey," Sierra said suddenly, elbowing him sharply in the ribs. "I think one of those girls is checkin' you out."

He squinted in the direction of the college girls. They seem to have grown in number – either that, or he was seeing double – and yes, one of them, a short brunette in a tiny purple sundress that showed off miles of tanned leg was sending him a blatantly appreciative glance. She grinned as he met her eyes and raised her drink in salute.

He shrugged apologetically in her direction and shook his head. The smile dropped off the girl's face and, with a toss of her hair, she turned back to her giggling friends.

"Are you an idiot?" Sierra slurred into his ear. "She's gor-zhusssss. You could've taken her home tonight."

The girl _was_ gorgeous. His blood had heated at the sight of her. But it hadn't been enough to sweep away his body's intense awareness of the girl now slumped heavily and obliviously against his shoulder. _Yes,_ he thought, taking a deep swig of his beer, _I am an idiot._


	4. Murder Most Foul

**A/N:** I don't know where this nasty little scene came from, I honestly don't. I should be working on _Family,_ I know, but I sat down to write and _this_ is what came out. It's awful and I hope it's just a dark AU and not the actual future of my _Family_ story.

* * *

The back room of the riverfront warehouse looked like an abattoir, crimson-black splattered all over the walls and floor, tacky under Officer Fish's boots. She grimaced, but there was no avoiding it in the small space. The room contained no furniture, just a bare mattress laying on the floor with on slender, tarp-covered figure on top of it. .

"My god," Sierra Rose whispered, breathing shallowly against the reek. By her side, her partner and best friend, Liam McBain, shot her a quick glance. Even in the dim light provided by their flashlights, she could see the tension in his jaw.

"Fish," Sergeant Ruriko Sato said, snapping on a pair of nitrile gloves. "You and McBain start taking photos of the splatter patterns." She crouched next to the mattress, squelching in the pooled blood under her feet, reaching down to pull away the tarp.

Sierra had turned her head away, fumbling with the camera case snapped to her belt, when her movements were halted by Liam's sudden gasp. She looked to him, alarmed.

"What?" she followed the direction of his horrified stare and broke off.

It took a few seconds for the blood-clotted curls, the unseeing, staring eyes, the opened throat to arrange themselves into a recognizable shape. Her legs turned boneless and her breath whooshed out of her lungs as if she were punched by a stone. Gorge rising, she blinked rapidly, her vision turning into a red-hued myopic smear. Not soon enough.

Voices rose in an over lapping babble around her, she couldn't make out what any of them were saying. She reached out blindly, finding the wall and leaning against it. In the next instant the acidic smell of vomit overlaid the stench of slaughter.

"See!" Dimly, she recognized Liam's voice and felt him hovering over her, hand on her back. She shoved off the wall and straightened, stepping away from him. His arms fell to his sides.

Sato had risen and come to stand in front of them, face creased in confusion or possibly annoyance."First time at a murder scene, Fish?"

"I-" Sierra swallowed, throat burning. "We know her, sir. Pilar Vega. She and I have been friends all our lives. Our parents are close, practically family. Oh god!" She turned to Liam, fresh horror piercing her shock. "Aunt Layla and Uncle Cris! I have to tell them-"

"The detectives on the case will take care of that," Sato broke in. Sierra turned back, a protest on her lips, but the sergeant went on. "You should go home. McBain, would you take-"

Fury washed over her, a hot, welcome blast scouring away anguish. "I'm not going anywhere!"

Sato's lips compressed. "Fish-"

Liam had placed his hands on Sierra's shoulders when she yelled, she shook him off. She stepped forward, looking the other woman in the eye and not over her shoulder at what lay beyond. "Sir, I can do my job. This is...a shock, but I can do it."

"You're personally involved, and I don't think-"

"Yes, I'm personally involved!" Sato hated to be interrupted and now she'd done it three times in row. Sierra felt her fingers curl into fists and she drew in a shaky breath, trying to throttle her voice down to ' _respectful but firm._ ' "Pilar is almost like my sister, so of course it's personal. But that's why I need to be here, do my job." She swallowed, forced the next word out. "Please."

Sato studied her for an interminably long moment, forehead knitted. Finally, she gave a single sharp nod. "Fine. But not here at the scene. Go and help with the witness canvas," Her gaze flicked over to Liam. "You okay to work this, McBain?"

"Yes, sir," he answered, voice steady, though his face was bone-white.

"Good." She looked back to Sierra, one eyebrow raised in warning. "I will be calling in to brief the lieutenant. If he says you go home, you go home."

"Yes, sir," she echoed. Sato dismissed her with another nod, and she walked out of the death-filled room, Liam's eyes following her before a sharp word from Sato had him yanking out his camera.

Stalking down the hallway, she felt the fury growing, a molten lump in her. _Pilar. Oh god, Pili, who did this to you?_


End file.
